Date: January 1, 2019 – January 2, 2019
Location: Mapleton, Australia

Date: January 2, 2019 – January 17, 2019
Location: Kilcoy, Australia

On January 1, 2019, we completed our housesit with Bibi and drove north to Mapleton, where we stayed in a bed and breakfast for a night. After having dinner in the small town we went to Mapleton Falls National Park for sunset.

The Mapleton Falls Lookout allows you to look down on Mapleton Falls.

The nicer thing about the lookout is it is a great place to watch the sunset.

After checking out of the bed and breakfast the next morning we went to Kondalilla National Park.

We walked the Kondalilla Falls circuit tail. As soon as we started we saw a lizard. From nose to tail it was around 1.5 feet, so much smaller than the one we saw on the Tibrogargan circuit trail.

The trail first went by a rock pool.

This is the lookout to Kondalilla Falls.

The trail looped around the falls and went up to the top of the falls where tons of people were hanging out and swimming.

On the way back to the car Brian saw a hollow tree and looked in it to see if an animal was inside.

We stopped at Flame Hill Vineyard for a wine tasting.

For lunch we went to King Ludwigs Restaurant and Bar. It was busy and we didn’t have a reservation, but were happy that they were able to fit us in. The German food was really good!

We also had a nice view of the Glass House Mountains while having lunch.

Kilcoy, Australia

After lunch we went to Kilcoy for a housesit where Robyn and John kindly welcomed us into their home. We got to meet their dogs, Nellie and Sonny boy, who we would spend two weeks with. 

Nellie

Sonny

We arrived the day before Robyn and John left, so they showed us around town and we enjoyed hearing about their lives and the areas around Kilcoy.

Toowoomba

Our first day, we drove south to Toowoomba and went to Picnic Point Lookout.

At Picnic Point there are also a few trails so we went to this waterfall.

After the lookout we went to Preston Peak Wines where we did a wine tasting.

I liked the chandelier in their tasting room.

The views at the winery are also very nice.

The day after Robyn and John left we made our first trip to the dog park.

Nellie and Sonny had a blast. But it was hot out, so they rested in the shade.

Every evening at the house was peaceful. The backyard overlooked cow pastures and we had great views of sunset.

The birds here are beautiful! I was able to capture pictures of many of the different kinds that would stop at the bird feeder, but there are many others as well.

My favorite the Rainbow Lorikeet.

There are butterflies in the area as well.

Most of the time we relaxed at the house and I was able to plan more of our trip. The dogs were never far from us.

Sonny loves getting his belly rubbed. As soon as you started petting him he would roll on his back.

The sunsets each night were gorgeous.

As a day trip we went to Kingaroy and to the Crane Wines for a tasting.

As we were in the car leaving the winery we saw our first wild kangaroo  – or most likely wallaby, as it was small.

It quickly jumped up the hill and back into the trees.

Most of the towns around Kilcoy have a visitor center with a museum and art gallery in the same area. We went to the Kingaroy art gallery and there were many nice paintings there that were very reasonably priced.

Kingaroy is also known as the “Peanut Capital of Australia” because it has Australia’s largest peanut processing plan. The museum had many items about the peanuts from planting to harvesting.

At fairs awards are given out for peanuts.

There is even a peanut chipping contest.

10-dollar ($7 USD) Steak Night

The town of Kilcoy is home to the Kilcoy Pastoral Company, one of the Australia’s leading premium grain-fed beef processors and exporters. Each Friday night the restaurant in town has a special: for $10AUD you get a 200 gram steak, around 7 oz, steakhouse beer battered chips, salad and your choice of sauce. That is 10 Australian dollars so around $7 US dollars.

The place was busy and there were a lot of reserved tables for reservations later in the night.

One evening Brian got up to get something and as soon as he did Nellie took his spot.

At the back of the house is a large cow pasture. One evening we  even saw a couple kangaroos jump through.

In Search of ‘Roos

We took a drive north to Jimna as we heard that Peach Trees camping area has lots of kangaroos. As soon as we turned off the paved road about a mile before the camping area sign we saw wallabies on the side of the road. They quickly jumped into the trees.

At the entrance we saw a hare.

In the camping area there were lots of kangaroos.

They didn’t seem to mind people and we never tried to get closer than this to them.

As we were driving out we saw one in the road. We were still far away, but when I looked at the photo later on it looks like there is a joey in the pouch.

Kilcoy Summary

Back in December, when we talked to people around Brisbane and told them we were heading to Kilcoy next, mostly everyone wanted to know why we would go there. Most locals knew that it was a very rural area and found it hard to believe that tourists would want to visit.

However, when we applied for and got accepted for the housesit we knew that Kilcoy was a small town in the country just over an hour north of Brisbane. And we were so glad we did!

We have loved our time here! Kilcoy has a population of around 1,900 people, but the town has everything that you need: a grocery store, hardware store, 2 gas stations, butcher, bakery, hair salons, dog park, library and a gym.